ktl@wag240.wag.caltech.edu (Kian-Tat Lim) (10/17/90)
We are seriously considering NeXTstations for two purposes in our research group: secretarial tasks involving text processing, E-mail, appointment management, and simple database functions (address book, etc.); and as scientific document processing workstations with the ability to handle equation formatting, data analysis, graphing (2D and 3D, contours, surfaces, etc.), symbolic algebra, bibliographies, and standard Unix shell tasks. Most of these tasks seem to be handled well by the bundled software, for which I applaud NeXT. I perceive three areas in which the software I have seen or heard about for the NeXT is weak or nonexistent. If you know of a suitable product in these areas, for a reasonable educational price (<$300), I would appreciate hearing about it. 1) Simple database. As I understand it, Sybase is no longer bundled with the system. Even if it were, a front-end would most likely be necessary to simplify it for novices. Corrections? 2) Equation formatting. TeX seems to be the only option here. I'm looking for an equivalent to Expressionist on the Macintosh. Could a point-and-click front-end be built onto TeX? 3) Data analysis and graphing. Mathematica is not adequate, as its user interface can be daunting, it is not clear that large data sets can be handled easily, and there appear to be few provisions for annotating graphs. We are looking for something like KaleidaGraph or DeltaGraph on the Macintosh. Import of columns of numbers in widely-varying formats is a necessity, as is the ability to easily change all plotting parameters. NeXT on Campus mentions a product named DAN -- any reviews? Even though the NeXTstation may be far superior in price/performance to, say, a Mac IIsi, the lack of software at this time makes it a risky choice. This was also true of the Macintosh in 1984 (when I bought my since-upgraded 128K), but at that time the perceived software needs were much fewer -- we expect more out of our computers now. -- Kian-Tat Lim (ktl@wag.caltech.edu, KTL @ CITCHEM.BITNET, GEnie: K.LIM1)
glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us (Glenn Reid) (10/18/90)
In article <1990Oct17.113743.890@nntp-server.caltech.edu> ktl@wag240.wag.caltech.edu (Kian-Tat Lim) writes: > I perceive three areas in which the software I have seen or >heard about for the NeXT is weak or nonexistent. If you know of a >suitable product in these areas, for a reasonable educational price >(<$300), I would appreciate hearing about it. > >1) Simple database. There is a wonderful product called DataPhile in the new software catalog from Stone Design. It's relatively inexpensive and looks like exactly the right thing for simple database management. >2) Equation formatting. TeX seems to be the only option here. >I'm looking for an equivalent to Expressionist on the Macintosh. >Could a point-and-click front-end be built onto TeX? FrameMaker does some equation formatting. I haven't used it much, but it looks fairly complete. FrameMaker isn't inexpensive, but it's valuable. >3) Data analysis and graphing. I'm not sure exactly what you're after, but maybe the graphing/charting features in the spreadsheets can be used to advantage. > Even though the NeXTstation may be far superior in >price/performance to, say, a Mac IIsi, the lack of software at this >time makes it a risky choice. This was also true of the Macintosh in >1984 (when I bought my since-upgraded 128K), but at that time the >perceived software needs were much fewer -- we expect more out of our >computers now. And there's a lot more there. Already there is a good assortment of high-quality software, and it's growing fast. It is already a very sophisticated platform for publishing and now data analysis, and although there aren't so many special-purpose tools yet (like MacInTax, for example), they can be developed fairly quickly, and I think they will be. But then again, I'm a bit biased in favor of NeXT computers :-) Glenn -- Glenn Reid RightBrain Software glenn@heaven.woodside.ca.us PostScript/NeXT developers ..{adobe,next}!heaven!glenn 415-851-1785